Our Astounding Lord

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”  John 14:7

I find it interesting that the disciple responding to this amazing statement is the more experienced of the group. Philip first followed John the Baptist as a disciple, and then left John to follow Jesus. That alone fills out quite the resume of discipleship! And yet, all of that experience does not make Philip able to grasp this thing Jesus said to them. 

"If you had known," Jesus said. And indeed, if we know a person's parents, and knew him as a child and later as an adult, we might think we know him quite well. The beginning of this statement points to something more about Jesus. As His father is God, then this shows something before His birth in Bethlehem. And this prior life with the Father speaks not to a reincarnation thing but an incarnation thing. Then our Lord declares, "and from now on..." but Philip and the other disciples are left with only the dust of understanding as our Lord astounds them yet again. 

And so, by Philip's experience, we know the Father God is seen in Jesus the Christ!

Lord help us to understand.

Bucky